Gucci, the luxury fashion house, has released a series of vegan sneakers manufactured from cruelty-free materials. The luxury giant introduced new versions of its Rhyton and New Ace sneakers on Thursday, made largely of Demetra. 

Demetra is Gucci’s exclusive sustainable vegan material made up of 77% plant-based basic ingredients, such as wood pulp and viscose, and is tanned in the same manner that leather is, but without the use of animals or harm to the environment.

Gucci spent two years developing the material and has applied for patents and trademarks, assuring that Demetra would be utilized exclusively for Gucci's in-house items for the time being.

Gucci is displaying Demetra in three distinct shoe styles: the Gucci Basket, Gucci New Ace, and Gucci Rhyton, all of which are produced in its Italian factory and retail for $702 to $940.

While leather remains a major fabric in Gucci's accessory and shoe designs, the brand is following other luxury brands such as Hermes, which debuted a purse made from mushrooms earlier this year, in experimenting with new materials. If the experiment is successful, new products might be developed with less dependency on natural resources.

Marco Bizzarri, Gucci President and CEO, said Demetra is a new category of material that encapsulates Gucci's quality and aesthetic standards with their desire to innovate, leveraging their traditional skills and know-how to create an evolving future. Demetra offers their industry an easily scalable, alternative choice and a more sustainable material that also answers the needs of animal-free solutions in their 100th anniversary year.

The Basket and New Ace designs are already available in shops and online, with the Basket style debuting on June 18. Gucci intends to produce more Demetra-inspired designs in future seasons.

Gucci will use Demetra as an animal-free alternative to leather throughout its whole portfolio of handbags, shoes, clothing, and accessories, in addition to producing special versions incorporating the new material.

Gucci-Up, an initiative that aims to create a circular economy, will reuse Demetra scraps along with other waste materials in the brand's production processes.